Socket connector having a flexible internal barrier to prevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugs

ABSTRACT

An improved socket connector has flexible interior barriers to prevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugs, where a flexible internal barrier is formed on a side of the socket entry leading into the socket cavity, and is composed of a flexible ramp attached from the socket entry, the ramp extending into the socket cavity and having a inner movable end with a vertical barrier, sized and disposed within the socket cavity so that the insertion of a correctly sized wide plug will engage the flexible ramp, riding along and moving the flexible ramp so that the vertical barrier is moved out of a stopping position, allowing the correctly sized wide plug to be fully and properly seated in the cavity, but further sized and disposed within the socket cavity so that the insertion of an incorrectly sized narrow plug will fail to engage the ramp, will not flex the ramp, and will leave the vertical barrier in the stopping position, where it prevents the incorrectly sized narrow plug from being fully inserted into the socket cavity. The improved socket can be an RJ45 network socket, the correctly sized wide plug can be an RJ45 network plug, and the incorrectly sized narrow plug can be an RJ11 telephone plug.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an electrical socket connector designed toprevent the improper insertion of smaller sized plug connectors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today, telephone and communication connections of many kinds arecommonly made using molded plastic modular connectors in standard shapesand sizes. Quite often there is a “family” of connectors having asimilar shape, but with different sizes, widths or numbers of electricalcontacts. While a larger or wider plug connector cannot be incorrectlyinserted into a smaller or narrower socket, the reverse is not alwaystrue. A smaller or narrower plug connector can often be incorrectlyinserted into a larger or wider socket, and the expected connection andfunctioning will not occur, and electrical or mechanical damage mayoccur. What is desired is an electrical socket connector designed toprevent the improper insertion of smaller sized plug connectors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides an electrical socket connector having a flexibleinternal barrier designed to prevent the improper insertion of smallersized plug connectors. In a preferred form, two flexible internalbarriers are used, one on each side of the socket entry leading into thesocket cavity. A flexible internal barrier is composed of a flexibleramp fixedly attached at the socket entry which extends a movable endinto the socket cavity. The movable end is attached to a verticalbarrier, which moves with the inner end of the flexible ramp. Theinsertion of a correctly sized wide plug will engage the sides of theplug with the flexible ramp, riding along and moving the flexible rampso that the vertical barrier is moved out of its stopping position,allowing the plug to pass the vertical barrier and to be fully andproperly seated in the cavity. The insertion of a incorrectly sizednarrow plug will fail to engage and move the flexible ramp, leaving thevertical barrier in its stopping position, and preventing the narrowplug from being inserted into the socket cavity past the verticalbarrier. In particular, this invention can be used to provide animproved RJ45 network socket which prevents the incorrect insertion of asmaller sized RJ11 telephone plug.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 provides a perspective view of a standard RJ45 8 pin plug andsocket.

FIG. 2 provides a perspective view of the doorway or entry frame leadinginto the socket cavity of an improved socket connector having a flexibleinternal barrier to prevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugsin accordance with this invention.

FIG. 3 provides a side view of the doorway or entry frame for animproved socket connector having a flexible internal barrier to preventincorrect insertion of smaller sized plugs in accordance with thisinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Today, most telephones, and telephone-related equipment such asanswering machines and modems, provide for connection to the standardtelephone network through a 4 pin socket known as an RJ11 socket. Theconnection is made by the consumer with a short jumper cable ofunshielded wire terminated at each end with a 4 pin molded plastic RJ11plug. The characteristics of these RJ11 plugs and sockets are describedin Subpart F of the Federal Communications Commission Rules andRegulations Part 68.500. The RJ11 has 6 contact positions, but usuallyonly 4 connecting pins are used. These RJ11 plugs will be called“telephone” plugs.

Also today, many computer systems provide for connection to a local areanetwork through an 8 pin socket known as an RJ45 socket. The connectionis made by the computer owner or their network administrator with ashort jumper cable of unshielded wire terminated at each end with an 8pin molded plastic RJ45 plug. FIG. 1 provides a perspective view of astandard RJ45 8 pin plug and socket. The RJ45 has 8 contact positions,and connecting pins are usually used in all 8 positions. The specificcharacteristics of these RJ45 plugs and sockets are described in theIEEE Specification 802.3 for networking over unshielded twisted pairwire, known as 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T, and in the EIA/TIA-568B RJ-45Wiring Scheme. These RJ45 sockets will be called “network” sockets.

Referring to FIG. 1 for the identification numerals, an RJ45 plug 11 iscommonly made of clear molded plastic, with a row of metal contacts 14on the top side, and a flexible plastic tab 16, also known as the “pluglatching bar”, on the bottom side. In practice, the top and bottomorientations can be varied, but will be used consistently in thisspecification.

Referring again to FIG. 1, an RJ45 socket 12 is commonly designed to beexposed on the outer enclosure surface of the telephone or computerequipment, and is usually made of molded plastic, with a cavity havingwithin it a row of metal electrical contacts 18 on a top side, and anotch 19 for receiving the flexible plastic tab 16 of a plug 11 on thebottom side. The engagement of the flexible plastic tab 16 with thenotch 19 aligns the plug 11 with the socket 12 and allows it to latchinto place. The user can depress the flexible plastic tab 16 to releasethe plug 11 from the socket 12.

The RJ11 telephone plugs and sockets are slightly narrower than the RJ45network plugs and sockets. A common mistake is for a computer user toinsert a narrow RJ11 telephone plug into the wider RJ45 network socket.The plug may appear to properly match due to a similar shape andoutline, the small friction between the parts, and the flexible plastictab may become latched into place. However, a close examination wouldreveal that the narrow RJ11 plug is only loosely held within the widerRJ45 socket. The 4 pin RJ11 and 8 pin RJ45 electrical contacts will notproperly match, and the expected network or telephone functions will notwork. Indeed, equipment damage may occur as incorrect electricalcontacts or short circuits are intermittently made, or if bending of thecontact pins occurs as the narrow plug is shifted or skewed in itsimproper socket. For example, when an RJ11 plug is put into an RJ45socket, the two edge contacts on the socket are bent out of the way bythe plastic edges of the RJ11. This can lead to the contacts becomingpermanently deformed, so that they will no longer make good contact withan RJ45 plug. A user who damages their RJ45 socket in this way may latertry to use a proper RJ45 plug, but find that the connection isincomplete or unreliable, and that the networking functions will notoperate.

While clear marking and labeling of the plugs and sockets can reducethese problems, what is desired is an RJ45 socket which prevents theimproper insertion of the smaller RJ11 plug.

FIG. 2 provides a perspective view of the doorway or entry frame leadinginto the socket cavity of an improved socket connector having a flexibleinternal barrier to prevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugsin accordance with this invention.

The doorway or entry frame 22 would be exposed on the outer enclosuresurface of the equipment, and would provide the opening through which aplug would be inserted into a socket cavity behind the entry frame 22.The entry frame 22 provides an opening in a shape to match theappropriate plug, including a notch 19 for receiving the flexibleplastic tab of a plug. Other socket details such as the back of thesocket cavity, contact pins, mounting tabs, and electrical connectionsare eliminated from FIG. 2 in order to highlight the specific inventivefeatures. The remainder of the socket is constructed or assembled usingknown industry standard techniques which will not be fully discussedhere.

The inventive feature of the flexible internal barrier can be built ontothe interior cavity walls, or as in this described preferred embodiment,onto the entry frame 22. The use of the entry frame 22 allows theinvention can be more easily applied to current socket designs, or theinvention can be incorporated into a new socket design with minimalchanges to the other conventional socket parts.

In a preferred form, two flexible internal barriers 24 are used, one oneach side of the entry frame 22 leading into the socket cavity. Aflexible internal barrier 24 is composed of a flexible ramp 26 having afixed end 27 and a movable end 29. The fixed end 27 is fixedly attachedat the entry frame 22. The movable end 29 extends into the socketcavity. Attached to the movable end 29 is a vertical barrier 28, whichmoves with the movable end 29 of the flexible ramp 26. When the flexibleramp 26 is not flexed, the vertical barrier 28 remains in a centralstopping position within the cavity which would prevent a plug frommoving past it further into the socket cavity.

FIG. 3 provides a side view of the doorway or entry frame 22 for animproved socket connector having a flexible internal barrier 24 toprevent incorrect insertion of smaller sized plugs in accordance withthis invention. In FIG. 3, a plug 11 is shown inserted. The plug 11engages the flexible ramp 24 which forces the movable end 29 andvertical barrier 28 downward out of the central stopping positionpreviously shown. When the vertical barrier 28 is moved downward out ofthe central stopping position previously shown, the plug 11 can be movedpast it further into the socket cavity.

Since the entry frame 22 the flexible internal barrier 24, the flexibleramp 26, and the vertical barrier 28 can be implemented simply inplastic molding, the additional manufacturing cost, if any, is small.The flexible ramp 26 can be molded with similar flexible characteristicsto the flexible plastic tab 16 used on a plug.

In operation, the insertion of a correctly sized wide plug 11 willengage the flexible ramp 26, riding along and moving the flexible ramp26 so that the vertical barrier 28 is moved downward out of the centralstopping position, allowing the correctly sized wide plug 11 to be fullyand properly seated in the cavity. For example, when an RJ45 networkplug is inserted into such an improved RJ45 network socket, it is wideenough to reach the edges, so it presses against the ramps, bending theramps and vertical barriers out of the way so that the plug can go allthe way into the socket cavity and lock into place properly.

Conversely, the insertion of a incorrectly sized narrow plug will failto engage the ramps, will not move the ramps, and will leave thevertical barriers in the central stopping positions, where they preventthe incorrectly sized narrow plug from being fully inserted into thesocket cavity. For example, when an RJ11 telephone plug is inserted intosuch an improved RJ45 network socket, the plug is too narrow to reachthe edges, will not engage or move the ramps, and the vertical barrierswill remain in the central stopping positions, which will prevent thenarrow RJ11 telephone plug from going further into the RJ45 networksocket cavity.

With this improved RJ45 network socket, the narrow RJ11 telephone plugwill still go part of the way into the socket before it is blocked bythe vertical barriers, but it will not go nearly far enough to lock intoplace, and will tend to fall out as soon as the user lets go of it,giving the user a clear indication that something is not correct. Thisshould prompt most users to look a little more closely at what they aredoing, and notice that they may be trying an incorrect plug and socketcombination. Carefully designed, the length of the flexible ramp to thevertical barrier can be short enough that a narrow plug will be stoppedonly a few millimeters into the socket, which will reliably preventincorrect insertions, incorrect electrical contact, or mechanical damageto the socket contacts.

Other variations will be apparent to one skilled in the art from aconsideration of the preceding description. For example, the improvementcould be used with other modular connectors which have large and smallsize connectors which can be incorrectly matched. The flexible internalbarrier can be formed entirely across one side of the entry frame,entirely across a side of the socket cavity, or used on multiple sidesof either. The flexible ramp could be formed of a beam, crossbar, or tabdisposed so as to be engaged and flexed by the insertion of a correctlysized plug. It is intended that the scope of the invention should belimited only as set forth in the claims which follow.

1. A socket connector having a flexible interior barrier to preventinsertion of a small sized plug, the socket connector having a socketentry and a socket cavity for receiving a large sized plug, the flexibleinternal barrier comprising: a flexible ramp having a fixed end and amovable end, the fixed end is attached to the socket entry, and themovable end which extends into the socket cavity; a vertical barrierattached to the movable end, which moves with the movable end of theflexible ramp, the vertical barrier being in a central stopping positionwithin the cavity when the large sized plug is not inserted and theflexible ramp is not moved, and the vertical barrier being moved awayfrom the central stopping position within the cavity when the largesized plug is inserted which engages and moves the flexible ramp.
 2. Thesocket connector as in claim 1, wherein the socket is an RJ45 networksocket, the large sized plug is an RJ45 network plug and the small sizedplug is an RJ11 telephone plug.
 3. A socket connector having a flexibleinterior barrier to prevent insertion of a narrow plug, the sockethaving a socket entry and a socket cavity for receiving a wide plug, theflexible internal barrier comprising; at two opposite sides of thesocket cavity, a flexible ramp having a fixed end and a movable end, thefixed end attached at the entry and the movable end which extends intothe socket cavity, the movable end further having a vertical barrierwhich moves with the movable end of the flexible ramp, the flexible rampand vertical barrier configured such that the insertion of the wide plugwill engage a side of the plug with the flexible ramp, riding along andmoving the flexible ramp so that the vertical barrier is moved out of astopping position, and allowing the wide plug to pass the verticalbarrier and to be fully seated in the socket cavity, but furtherconfigured such that the insertion of the narrow plug will fail toengage a side of the plug with the flexible ramp, leaving the verticalbarrier in its stopping position, and preventing the narrow plug frombeing further inserted into the socket cavity past the vertical barrier.4. The socket connector as in claim 3, wherein the socket connector isan RJ45 network socket, the wide plug is an RJ45 network plug, and thenarrow plug is an RJ11 telephone plug.
 5. A socket connector having aflexible interior barrier to prevent insertion of a small sized plug,the socket connector having a socket entry and a socket cavity forreceiving a large sized plug, the flexible internal barrier comprising:a flexible ramp having a fixed end and a movable end, the fixed end isattached to the socket entry, and the movable end which extends into thesocket cavity; a barrier attached to the movable end, which moves withthe movable end of the flexible ramp, the barrier being in a centralstopping position within the cavity when the large sized plug is notinserted and the flexible ramp is not moved, and the barrier being movedaway from the central stopping position within the cavity when the largesized plug is inserted which engages and moves the flexible ramp.
 6. Thesocket connector as in claim 5, where the socket is an RJ45 networksocket, the large sized plug is an RJ45 network plug and the small sizedplug is an RJ11 telephone plug.
 7. A socket connector having a flexibleinterior barrier to prevent insertion of a narrow plug, the sockethaving a socket entry and a socket cavity for receiving a wide plug, theflexible internal barrier comprising: at two opposite sides of thesocket cavity, a flexible ramp having a fixed end and a movable end, thefixed end attached at the entry and the movable end which extends intothe socket cavity, the movable end further having a barrier which moveswith the movable end of the flexible ramp, the flexible ramp and barrierconfigured such that the insertion of the wide plug will engage a sideof the plug with the flexible ramp, riding along and moving the flexibleramp so that the barrier is moved out of a stopping position, andallowing the wide plug to pass the barrier and to be fully seated in thesocket cavity, but further configured such that the insertion of thenarrow plug will fail to engage a side of the plug with the flexibleramp, leaving the barrier in its stopping position, and preventing thenarrow plug from being further inserted into the socket cavity past thebarrier.
 8. The socket connector as in claim 7, where the socketconnector is an RJ45 network socket, the wide plug is an RJ45 networkplug, and the narrow plug is an RJ11 telephone plug.